Simon Stone
BBC Sport

Tottenham and Manchester City are amongst the new clubs who will play in next season’s Checkatrade Trophy.

Chelsea will also enter an Under-21 side, as they did last season.

Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool have turned down the chance to participate.

The competition features 16 Under-21 teams from clubs with Category A academies, in addition to the 48 League One and League Two clubs.

Last season was the first time it was played under the new format.

Coventry beat Oxford in front of almost 75,000 at Wembley but prior to that the competition had been heavily criticised due to its low crowds, restrictive rules for the League One and Two teams, and the absence of most of England’s major clubs.

Tournament regulations were tweaked in the summer, allowing greater flexibility in selection and fixture dates.

So world number three Karolina Pliskova has a walkover into the Eastbourne final where she will play the winner of the semi-final between Britain's Heather Watson and Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, which is due to begin shortly.

You can watch the build up that match on BBC Two now.

More tennis news and British number one Johanna Konta has withdrawn from her Eastbourne semi-final today because of a thoracic spine injury sustained in that fall in the closing stages of her match yesterday.

So here are a few of the standout encounters from the opening round of the women's Championship this year...

Agnieszka Radwanska v Jelena Jankovic

Monica Puig v Timea Bacsinszky

Karolina Pliskova v Evgeniya Rodina

Alison Riske v Sloane Stephens

Dominika Cibulkova v Andrea Petkovic

Johanna Larsson v Petra Kvitova

Victoria Azarenka v CiCi Bellis

Carla Suarez Navarro v Eugenie Bouchard

British number one Johanna Konta will face world number 112 Su-wei Hsieh in her opening match at Wimbledon 2017...

More thoughts on the new cricket rights deal, which will see Sky retain live England Test coverage and BBC television have highlights and digital clips for the website, plus live coverage of other matches including some T20 internationals, women's internationals and the new domestic T20 competition.

ECB chairman Colin Graves says: "Through these exceptional new partnerships with Sky Sports and BBC we have a unique opportunity to give cricket a very bright future.

"It is vital that the game now takes time to plan ahead and invest strategically in all the right places. The ECB Board will lead on this, working closely with all of our stakeholders at every level of the game."

World number one and 2016 finalist Angelique Kerber will face a qualifier or lucky loser in her opening match.

Image source, Getty Images

The women's draw is WIDE open this year but provided they all go through, this is what the quarter finals could look like...

Kerber v Kuznetsova

Pliskova v Wozniacki

Cibulkova v Svitolina

Konta v Halep

A tough one for British number one, Jo Konta...

This year's draw has thrown up some brilliantly exciting first round matches in the men's singles...

Juan Martin Del Potro v Thanasi Kokkinakis

Fernando Verdasco v Kevin Anderson

Dominic Thiem v Vasek Pospisil

Rodger Federer v Alexandr Dolgopolov

Philipp Kohlschreiber v Marin Cilic

Richard Gasquet v David Ferrer

To name but a few...Could there be some shocks and upsets?

Raise your hand if you can't wait...

*Raises hand*

Here's more on the excellent news that live cricket will return to BBC television for the first time since 1999. England and Wales Cricket Board executive officer Tom Harrison says: "This is a great result for cricket. ECB has secured the reach, revenue and relevance the game deserves, to help it to grow.

"Together, these new deals will deliver the partnership, distribution and investment that will fuel the future of our game, driving recreational, professional and international cricket for years to come."

You have excellent eye sight...

(Or can zoom well on your phone).

Rodger Federer will play Ukraine's Alexandr Dolgopolov in the opening round.

Good draw for Fed.

But he needs to make sure he doesn't get the Dolgopolov song in his head...

*To the tune of Mahna Mahna from the Muppets.... *

"Dol-go-polov. Do do d-do do.... Dol-go-polov. Do do do do.... etc etc"

Here's that fantastic cricket news and English international and domestic cricket will be shown live on BBC TV for the first time in 21 years from 2020.

In a five-year deal with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), more than 100 hours of cricket will be broadcast each summer.

The contract includes live TV coverage of England men and women's Twenty20 internationals and the ECB's new men's domestic T20 tournament.

TV highlights of England men's home internationals will also be shown.

The BBC, which this year celebrates 60 years of Test Match Special, also retained radio rights and digital clips for English cricket.

Rafa Nadal and Rodger Federer could face each other in the final!

Nadal faces Australia's John Millman in the first round.

Hold the line please caller. More to come..